


i can feel you from across the sea

by sunflowerwithfeelings



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), M/M, Soulmates, Thor has poptarts even though it’s not explicitly stated, it’s like...poetic, oh and they fuck at the end but it’s not explicit, we LIVE in Avengers 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 13:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16138112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerwithfeelings/pseuds/sunflowerwithfeelings
Summary: If your soulmate writes on themselves, it appears on you. Steve missed his 21 year mark so he gets it again at 100. Pining Avengers 2012-esque shenanigans.





	i can feel you from across the sea

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. I know some of y’all SteveTony writers are reading this right now and i’m here to have Some Words with you. WHERE is the Soulmate AU’s at?? This bitch only 2k but goddamnit if I gotta write it all I Will. Y’all gotta step up your motherfucking game up!! These fools love each other. Print and fax.

Steve had missed his opportunity for a soulmate as soon as he crashed his plane into the icy waters of the Arctic. The magic number everyone seemed to dream of that would present them with their soulmate had bypassed Steve in his icy form and when he had awoken years later, he was already the ripe age of ninety. It always weighted on his conscious. He was okay with not having a soulmate himself, but had his dive resulted in someone to not have a soulmate? Every time he was faced by the press with questions about his soulmate, because everyone in the world was now obsessed with their band of heroes, he’d brush it off and say he simply didn’t have one. Which wasn’t a complete lie. The truth is he didn’t know if he did or not. Had someone back in 1941 been his soulmate or had the universe secretly planted his in 2018? To that he was entirely unsure.

But at the moment, he wasn’t occupied with that thought process. Instead, he was sitting lazily on Tony’s couch in his lab, listening to Tony’s personal playlist as the sound of drills and metal weaved through the air. His book was abandoned on the cushion next to him and his fingers fiddled with a pencil that drew absentmindedly on paper. Steve’s mind was on the man at work in front of him. If Tony were to look up and acknowledge Steve’s presence, not that he didn’t know he wasn’t there, he was always there, he’d see Steve buried in his sketchpad instead of being hyper focused on him.

In Steve’s mind, Tony was the closest he’d get to a soulmate. Sure, Bucky was a best friend that he could always confide in but Tony was something different. Steve considered them best friends but always found his being around calming; like he didn’t have to be the cheery man the rest of America thought he was from the magazine and article covers. He could talk during movies and Tony would laugh, dispute it, or just nod his head to it. They would often share blankets together when Tony decided he needed a break and the lab stools were getting more than mildly uncomfortable. He caught Tony more than once running his fingers subconsciously through Steve’s now outgrown hair. The feeling of just being around one another was enough to satisfy Steve to no end.

The sound of heels descending stairs and the slide of the glass doors made Steve look up and smile warmly at Pepper, who returned the affection and then turned to Tony. The music stopped and Tony paused his work, looking up at her.

“You have a meeting tomorrow in London at twelve. We’ll be leaving in a couple hours so start cleaning up and take a shower please?” Pepper gestured to the grease stains on Tony’s face and clothes. She turned to Steve and nodded her head, “and don’t worry Steve. We’ll be back in time for the party.”

Tony immediately perked up from his work table, “party?”

“Yeah,” Steve’s eyes glazed over Tony’s now standing figure. “It’s the fourth of July tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Tony waved his hand and sighed, setting down a now greasy towel before registering it was also Steve’s birthday. “Oh! Yeah we’ll definitely be back for that, wouldn’t miss your birthday—big one-zero-zero.”

He gleamed a smile at Steve and Pepper laughed before turning on her heels and leaving the room. Tony wiped his hands on a clean towel and walked to Steve, his hands still fiddling with the blue fabric.

“I got you a cool birthday present this year,” He said with a little more swagger than he usually had.

“You just remembered it was my birthday like two seconds ago.” Steve pointed at him with the tip of his eraser and smiled out of the corner of his mouth, Tony’s tricks always worked on him.

“Meh, I got it for you a while ago. I figured I could use it for your birthday.”

“Uh huh, and what time is the party?” Steve raised an eyebrow and carefully watched Tony’s face.

“I...That’s not what matters.” Tony smiled and switched his weight onto his back foot. “What matters is that my present is gonna be better than everyone else’s and you should be excited.”

Steve glanced down at his paper, “absolutely elated.”

Tony peered down at the paper, the attention now being taken off of him. “What have you been drawing?”

Steve quickly closed the book and, grabbing his other book, stood up, ignoring the stars forming around his line of vision. “Nothing. Listen to Pepper and go take a shower. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back and woo me over with your superior birthday gift.”

Tony stepped back, remembering the height difference between him and Steve, backing up to follow him and Pepper’s orders. Lord, without them who knows where he’d be. Probably still in Vegas gambling and drinking away all his money.

“Ey ey Captain,” Tony winked at Steve before using a different door in the lab and slipping out, leaving Steve.

Steve sighed, a smile curling around his lips, as he felt a shudder of happiness creep up his spine and spread across his chest. What he felt was love, of this he was sure, but he wouldn’t dare act on it. For now he flirted with and watched Tony from afar, too dazzled to venture further.

 

* * *

 

The Avengers had all bid their goodbyes to Tony around eleven, Steve waving him off to the private jet. Inside, Pepper was set up with a magazine, a book, and a blanket in her reclining seat. Tony made due with his phone and a pillow in his, listening to music and casually drinking as he waited for the impending sleep.

Tony didn’t have a soulmate either, he awoke on the 21st birthday to no special ‘pen’ pal, not entirely surprised to say the most. This is what caused the years of reckless playboy depressed adventures that ended up backfiring on him years later. His attitude of just being with as many people as possible to fill the void his mental illness and de-soulmateness had on taken on him was taxing, but he was in a better place now. He was surrounded with the Avengers, the rough band of misfits he loved to call a family ever since that terrifying day in New York in 2012. The PTSD still lingered as well as the alcoholic demon but the man was healing. The Avengers had made sure of that much.

Tony checked the time again, it had only been an hour, the plane ride being seven hours long, but he was starting to see the back of his eyelids. It was midnight NYC time, which was roughly pique party time Tony time, but he let himself drift off and get swept away in the dream realm.

 

* * *

 

In the morning, Steve didn’t feel any different. Sure he was turning a hundred years old, but he was still technically only thirty-three. Nothing was entirely off. He went through his normal morning routine, almost.

Naturally, Steve is an early riser, waking up at approximately 5:30 in the morning just before the Sun decides to slip into view and move throughout the tower. He brews coffee, or green tea, and wanders around barefoot, sometimes thinking over the day ahead, sometimes not. He’s on the main floor, no one is awake yet today except for him when he feels something sink in his stomach.

On any normal morning, Steve wanders through the tower and is usually greeted by the only other person awake in the morning, Tony. He’s usually sprawled out on the couch or still left tinkering in his lab, most times not having slept at all. It makes Steve upset that he hasn’t slept but Tony doesn’t act delirious or loopy, he’s just a lot quieter. He offers the mechanic a cup of black coffee and it makes for warm, low conversation.

But he didn’t have that today. No morning companion, no radiating body to share coffees with.

He sat on the couch and cut his morning exploration short to watch as the sun approached view, the golden glow growing across the sky. He internally wishes himself a happy birthday and sips his drink, closing his eyes in serene melancholy.

When Steve opened his eyes, he caught glimpse of something blue on his left wrist. Had he accidentally put his hand on something Tony had written from the day before? In Tony’s blue inked handwriting was a scramble of numbers with the number “7 hours” circled. Seven hours for what? That’s how long the flight from NYC to London was, but why would Tony have written that down? And more importantly, how was it on Steve’s left hand?

Whatever the reason, he looked back towards the sky and thought he’d wash it off as soon as he got up. It was only a matter of seconds before his mind was wondering to the “7 hours” and he glanced down only to confuse himself even more. More writing had been added below in those seconds, but this time in black pen. It just said “Steve”. As he studied the ink, lines underneath his name started to appear seemingly out of thin air, leaving Steve stunned. Was it happening? Was Steve getting a soulmate this many years later? Was his soulmate Tony?

There was only one way to test that theory.

Steve stood up lightning fast and grabbed the closest pen he could, a red one Clint had been using, and added a “?” next to his name. When no response came in the next couple of seconds, he become increasingly startled. Maybe Tony wasn’t his soulmate, or worse, maybe he scared Tony off.

His worries melted away when Tony replied back “holy shit”.

“When do you come back?” Steve asked, even if he knew it was seven hours. He wanted it to be shorter.

“Fucking now,” Tony replied.

From there, the ink messages stopped and Steve was left to process this all. Tony Stark was his soulmate.

 

* * *

 

Tony couldn’t get to NYC fast enough. He rushed Pepper to finish the meeting early, if you consider just walking out of the meeting rushing, or as she wanted to call it, “being unprofessional”. The private jet was there waiting for them and he totally didn’t tell the pilot to speed there, for safety reasons.

The whole plane ride he was jittery. Does he write something else? Should he just text Steve instead of graffitiing his arm in messy handwriting? He did neither and ended up scrolling mindlessly on his phone till they landed, high tailing it to the tower.

It was around eight thirty and night, the party had just started by the life on the party deck. Steve slipped away when JARVIS informed him that Tony had returned home, feeling like a teenager skipping class to go kiss their crush under the staircase at school. When he saw Tony, all the nerves he had melted away.

They were in the lower floors of the party deck, Tony dressed in his suit without the jacket and sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a decision he totally didn’t think about for an hour and a half. Steve felt under dressed just in a t-shirt and jeans but Tony was coming back from a business venture.

“How’d it go?” He asked first.

“Boring, hence the scribbles. I sat there running numbers in my head while Pepper did all the talking and paying attention.” Tony smirked, eyes running up Steve’s body as he approached him.

“So how it usually goes then.” Steve joked, his eyes watching the way Tony’s lips curled.

“You're not wrong. My mind was on other things.”

“Such as?”

Tony lit up and rocked on his heels, “your fantastic birthday present!”

Steve chuckled, “which is?”

“This,” Tony whispered as he raised himself on his toes, his hands curling around Steve neck bringing him in for a kiss. He tasted like vanilla cake and strawberries. Steve’s hands wrapped around Tony’s waist and a muffled sound came from the back of his throat.

Tony pulled away happy, but completely offended. “You had cake without me?”

“You went on a business trip on my birthday,” Steve bumped his nose against Tony’s forehead.

“Hey,” Tony said bringing Steve’s attention back to him. “I had no control over that.”

“I could say the same. Thor was very adamant we start. He loves fourth of July outside the fact that it’s my birthday.” Steve smiled.

The sound of explosions above them started to rip through the sky, both men wincing at first but looking pleasantly surprised.

“Looks like we better go join them,” Tony said, grabbing Steve’s hand and pulling him towards the elevator.

They walked into the party together, Clint whistling at them but no one else seemed to notice their close proximity to each other or the fact that they held hands the entire time the bright, bold colors ripped across the sky in dazzling sparkles. Occasionally, one would squeeze the others hand just to remember that they were there because for both men it was a fantastical thing neither thought was possible. For the universe to give them each other in proof. And when the festivities were over and all the sparklers had been blown out, Steve and Tony danced back to Tony’s room, reaching for skin and basking in love and lust. Steve’s fingers gripped Tony’s hips but ghosted lightly over the arc reactor; Tony sucked spots all over Steve’s chest but laid gentle butterfly kisses across his scars. The mutual love both of them shared exploded across sheets and later magazine covers as news of their relationship came and went.

Steve woke up in the morning, made his cup of tea and sat on the couch, minutes later joined by Tony sipped black coffee. Their legs tangled together underneath a blanket for the approaching autumn weather. Tony pecked Steve’s lips in search for the missing warm July weather, but he thrives in his boyfriends arms. They heal together.

**Author's Note:**

> You see?? Now go forth young writers and make me proud. Leave links to a SteveTony Soulmate AU’s in the comments. It’s what they deserve.
> 
> You can find me [here](http://queersunflowers.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.


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